Code for extending the NETCF MainMenu to support background color property

Question

I've searched for the solution to change the background color on the Compact Framework's MainMenu control, and the only answer I've found is that you need to create a custom control. Does anyone have example code for this?

Answer 1

There is no way of doing this.
Your right in that you'll probably need to create your own control.

This was something I was considering doing anyway to make the application go on Windows CE and Windows Mobile.
The problem with adding menus when the application needs to work with both is that the menu goes to the top of the screen on Windows CE and covers any controls that might be there.
It would be less hassle in the long run just make a new control.

Answer 2

I did something vaguely similar where I wanted to handle the WM_EXITMENULOOP message which was not available as an event in .NETCF.

The solution was to "subclass" the Main Menu, an old MFC trick where you replace the WndProc function with your own, handle any windows messages (WM_EXITMENULOOP in my case) and call the base class WndProc for everything else.

Some sample code is available on Alex Yakhnin's blog on how to subclass a control: Example of subclassing a window in .NETCF

In your case you'd actually be subclassing the Form that the MainMenu resides on, and I think WM_DRAWITEM would be the windows message you'd want to handle yourself. I haven't tried changing the background color myself so not totally sure this will work, but subclassing would be where I'd start.

Answer 3

I tried to do something similar a while back and discovered that you have to write your own menu; essentially from scratch. I gave up because the project I was working on couldn't afford the expense. I also discovered that OpenNETCF has a pretty awesome menu control. I don't know if it's included in their free software, but it might be worth looking into.